2 men shot and killed at apartment complex in Orlando

Etan HorowitzSentinel Staff Writer

Two men were shot and killed early Sunday at the Royal Summit Apartments in the Holden Heights area of Orlando.

About 1:50 a.m., police responded to a call about a shooting at 2970 South Rio Grande Ave. When they arrived, they found Robert Lee Bates III, 21, and Allen Milton Summers Jr., 34, in the parking lot suffering from gunshot wounds.

The men were taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center, where they died.

Police said Bates and Summers lived at the apartment complex. No information about a possible suspect has been released, but a car that possibly belonged to one of the men is missing. The car is a white, two-door 1999 Oldsmobile Alero with dark tinted windows andFlorida license plate J549QF.

Several residents Sunday said they did not feel safe at the complex and were thinking of moving after the shooting.

"I heard the shots and they almost scared me to death," said a woman who lives at the apartment complex but declined to give her name. "It's not safe out there."

Another resident, Ricardo Shackelford, 24, said he thought the complex was safe because it is patrolled frequently by security and police.

In January 2007, an armed guard at the apartment complex was stripped of his pistol and $800 worth of gear at gunpoint.

The deaths bring the number of people slain in Orlando police jurisdiction this year to nine. So far this year, 20 people have been murdered in the jurisdictions ofOrlando Police and the Orange County Sheriff's Office combined.

Etan Horowitz can be reached at ehorowitz@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5447.